12 ‘True Detective’ Facts to Reopen the Yellow King Investigation

HBO’s True Detective smashed time into a flat circle by its blockbuster first season, but did you know that creator Nic Pizzolatto originally intended the story as his next novel? Or that Matthew McConaughey’s Rustin Cohle only drinks eight beers over the course of the series? These are just some of the case files pulled from the twelfth episode of ‘You Think You Know TV?,’ which investigates the occult drama of of HBO’s True Detective!

In addition to pitching True Detective as a TV series over its original inception, Pizzolatto also wrote upwards of 500 pages for the first season, and all by himself to boot, unheard of by the usual TV writers’ room model. The single season arc also famously allowed such A-listers as McConaughey, Woody Harrelson and Michelle Monaghan, while director Cary Fukunaga also went especially in-depth with his commitment.